Indoor park gives Vista kids a place to skate

6  The Aura indoor skate park buzzed Friday night with the sounds of wheels speeding up and down ramps, skateboards slamming into rails and the occasional knee or elbow hitting the surface.

Built inside a warehouse by the Aura Skateboarding Company, the facility in Vista has become a popular gathering spot where kids new to skating can learn the basics and more advanced skaters can perform gravity-defying tricks on more than a dozen wooden ramps, rails and bumps.

“It’s a good place to skate when it’s dark outside, and everyone here is super nice,” said Jay Malenfant, 20, of Carlsbad.

Malefant was one of dozens of skaters and spectators who attended a skateboarding competition there Friday night. The event also served as a benefit for a nonprofit organization called Bridge to Skate, which donates skating equipment to underprivileged kids.

The park celebrated its one-year anniversary March 29. Since it opened, more than 3,000 skaters have used the facility, said Doug Works, Aura’s general manager.

Skaters pay $10 to use the park per day. It also has various membership levels that reduce or eliminate the daily fee.

Jim Bell, president of Aura, is in the business of building skate ramps for private residences. The work was suffering during the recession when he was approached several years ago with the idea of creating an indoor park. He saw the opportunity in Vista because the city had closed its public outdoor skate park. He scraped the money together with the help of friends and leased the warehouse in the Sycamore Vista business park on La Mirada Drive.

The park has a “bowl,” which looks like an empty backyard pool about 9 feet deep, and about a dozen ramps of various shapes and sizes. There’s also a lounge area with leather couches and a TV, where parents can rest while their kids skate.

The facility has other amenities, such as Wi-Fi, a pro shop and a concession stand. The park also serves as a showroom for the private ramps Bell builds.

He opened the park in Vista in part because the city did not have a public skate area, Bell said. But he also supports Vista’s plans to build its public skate park.

“We don’t want to be the end all,” Bell said.

In November, the park held a benefit barbecue and donated the proceeds to the Vista Skatepark Coalition, a nonprofit promoting the plans for a public skate park.

Vista’s last public skate park was built in 1999, between the library and City Hall. But the park became a magnet for fights and crime. The park was demolished in 2008, when Vista built the new Civic Center and parking lot.

Lyssa Flaherty, secretary of the Vista Skatepark Coalition, said there is room for both public and private skate parks in Vista. She said some kids simply can’t afford to pay for the use of a private facility.

“We support Aura opening their showroom to skaters; however, the facility does not replace the need for a public skate park,” she said.

Flaherty said the coalition will continue to advocate for a free, public skate park. The coalition is also proposing to build smaller skating areas, called skate pods, designed by artists at new and existing public parks.

Friday’s skate competition at Aura generated about 20 skateboards and other equipment for Bridge to Skate that will be donated to low-income children. Contestants who donated skating equipment received a discounted entry fee.

Zeb Ryan of Carlsbad said he brings his 9-year-old son, Toby, to the park most weekends.

“It’s like a little community,” Ryan said. “A lot of people are coming from all over to skate. It’s getting to be very well known.”

Bell said his park will also host the second annual Shane Hidalgo Memorial Skate Contest on June 2. Hidalgo was a professional skateboarder from Oceanside, He died last year at age 24 in a crash while driving to a charity event near Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.

“(Shane) was a great friend and an amazing human being,” Bell said. “This contest keeps the memory of Shane alive and brings his extended family and friends together for a day of positivity, reflection and amazing skateboarding.”